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What’s your #1 Business? It’s NOT Financial Services

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Barbara Kay
Tuesday, 21 February 2012 / Published in Uncategorized

What’s your #1 Business? It’s NOT Financial Services

Someone once shared with me that fast-food giants are successful because they know they’re not selling food.  Not selling food?  What are they selling?  

Convenience, reliability & quality at low-prices.  Food is just a vehicle to deliver the core business.

I’ve been blogging about branding for a while now and here I go again.  New research has come out that reveals how often investors are going DIY (Do It Yourself) with financial services.

  • DIY Direct investing has grown more than advisor-based investing 19% vs. 14% in 2 years (despite investor confusion).
  • DIY Direct investing accounts for almost $3.7 trillion in assets.
  • A recent survey found that nearly 75% of investors with a financial advisor also do DIY direct investing.
  • Advisors seriously underestimate this, guessing only 20% of their clients have direct investing accounts.

Those statistics and the recent flurry of investor DIY platforms (i.e. E-Trade’s 360 dashboard and Personal Capital’s free comprehensive financial management tool) make it even more imperative that advisors differentiate themselves from the increasingly sophisticated DIY financial-services providers and deliver on their primary business.  Sooo……

What is your primary business?

Here’s what I think and let me know if you disagree.  Your business includes being a:

  • Therapist, by dealing with fears and helping clients feel “OK”
  • Interpreter, by translating the foreign language of financial lingo
  • Concierge, so clients don’t have to do all the work
  • Guardian, by helping to build emotional & financial security
  • Teacher, guiding clients to increased competence & literacy
  • Watch-dog, keeping clients from making critical errors in judgement

Tip of the Day:  NO Dashboard can replace you!

None of the above roles can be filled by a DIY financial dashboard.  Sure, you can get information on those topics but no dashboard can replace the power of person in a real relationship caring for the client.

Now more than ever, personal relationship is king.  Your primary business is emotional –  love your client!  One of the vehicles for doing that is through quality financial services.

Resource of the Day:

Below is the link to the article about the rise in DIY investing.

DIY Investing on the Upswing

Tagged under: advisors, clients, financial advisors, financial services, investors

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